"I declare that the third session of the New Era of Parliament in the year 52 of Hope will now begin..."

At this moment, in the real core building of the inner city, in a room without any high-tech equipment, ten people were sitting around a round table.

This is where Hope City’s highest decision-making body, the Council of Hope, is located.

This small building has only two floors. The first floor is a meeting room where the parliamentarians communicate with the heads of the three major departments, and the second floor is the round table conference room here.

The round table conference room on the second floor is as narrow as a shabby house without windows. The light sources above are incandescent lamps that were invented hundreds of years ago. It seems that there is no trace of technological development here.

There is a not-so-bright incandescent lamp above everyone's head. Whoever's turn it is to speak will have the lamp above his head light up, while the others will disappear into the darkness, as if becoming extremely neutral and objective.

At the same time, each of them also holds a two-way switch to vote on the next proposal.

The leading man stood up, opened the folder in his hand and read:

“Proposal 1: Regarding the proposal to establish a separate food industry department, the following are the specific contents…

"...Merge the outer city nutrient paste production line and the underground farm ranch, and add six new production lines..."

"Proposal 2: Regarding cutting the research funding of the Life Science Department of the Institute by 50% in the next quarter, the remaining funds can be appropriately distributed to other departments or institutions..."

The meeting continued, with proposals being passed or rejected one by one, until finally the last person came to the meeting.

“Proposal 9: Suggestions on appropriately tightening the grey area policy in outer urban areas.”

This person's tone was emotionless, as if he was just a machine reading a script.

"...With our deliberate connivance over the past few years, the power of the unemployed in the outer city has gradually become too big to be eliminated..."

"...In summary, the deliberate tolerance of the outer city in the past five years is one of the root causes of the tragedy at the institute a week ago..."

The man finished reading the last sentence of the proposal, but the other members present fell silent.

After a few minutes, someone spoke up:

“I still remember that five years ago, it was you who proposed this policy to relieve the pressure on the outer suburbs.”

The congressman whose true identity was exposed did not show any displeasure. Instead, he said seriously:

"The present is different from the past, how can there be any unchanging method?

"You and I both know what it was like five years ago. If we don't find something for those frustrated people to do, I'm afraid the factories in the outer city won't be able to operate for a day."

"Then do you know how many illegal residents there are in the outer city now?"

The man hiding in the shadows continued to ask.

In Hope City, everyone will have a precise job assignment, and people with different education and majors will have their tasks assigned to them early on.

In other words, theoretically there are no such people as homeless people in Hope City.

But this is just a theory after all. Another undeniable fact is that the residents of Hope City are under too much pressure to survive.

There are indeed ferocious beasts outside the city wall, but the beasts inside the city wall are equally terrifying.

Nowadays, people can still relieve stress through doctors and clinics like Lin Qingliu, but this was not the case a few years ago.

The factory that produces nutritional paste will never stop production. For some jobs, humans are always more suitable than machines.

After all, if the machine breaks down, it will sound the alarm, and people will grit their teeth and continue working.

Opposition peaked about five years ago.

The factory at that time was indeed a bit too inhumane, causing more than 20 production lines in the entire outer city area to almost collapse.

At that time, also in this dark room, everyone voted and passed another proposal, allowing some workers who wanted to leave the factory to choose their own way out.

These unstable factors left the assembly line and became the so-called vagrants.

Those who are reluctant to give up their jobs naturally have no intention of striking.

Just like El now, a few years ago, young people who dropped out of school early like this would undoubtedly be packed into factories, but after that there was no need to force them to do so.

The outer city areas already had very few surveillance cameras due to cost reasons, and after the relaxation of supervision, things started to become somewhat chaotic.

Those who choose to leave the factory will naturally find jobs for themselves since they have no other options.

This has led to the current ecological environment of the outer urban area.

But if this proposal is passed today, perhaps the outer suburbs will see a big change in the next one to two years.

"Ten thousand people."

The man who read out the proposal was a little hesitant.

"Don't think I don't know! There are at least 20,000!"

The man opposite him refuted him mercilessly again.

"That's not even counting the guys who pick up sticks every day after get off work. I don't know where they get all that strength...

“I’m not saying this to refute you, I just want to know if you have any way to really solve this problem?

“It’s easy for us to pass a proposal, but it may be very difficult to implement it.”

The man fell silent. After a while, he asked tentatively:

"How about pulling one group and beating another group?"

After hearing his suggestion, several congressmen began to whisper. In the dim room, the men under the light could not see anything and could only hear low voices.

With a little sweat on his head, he continued:

“We should win over the newer, more moderate gangs and suppress the bad and pure ones.

"Finally, we can catch them all in one fell swoop, and all the problems will be solved."

The man's idea sparked another discussion, and someone in the darkness asked:

"According to your idea, how many people can be in the first wave?"

The man under the light thought for a moment and said:

"According to the model's estimates, there are at least three thousand."

The voice in the darkness sneered and said:

"I vote for you. Remember to let them work on the assembly line proposed in Proposal No. 1."

"drop!"

The green light came on and the man got the first vote.

Another voice asked:

"How do you choose those you want to win over?"

The man thought for a moment and said:

"Let the Ministry of Internal Affairs set up a team to investigate. They have little connection with the outer city, so the results will be more objective."

"That's fine with me."

"drop."

The man received the second vote.

“How long is the planned cycle?”

"Two and a half years."

"drop."

The man received the third vote.

In this way, the people in the shadows asked seven or eight more questions, and finally Proposal No. 9 was successfully passed with five votes in favor, two votes against, and two abstentions.

The fate of countless people was rewritten at this moment, but they knew nothing about it.

At the same time, in an unknown psychological clinic in a suburb 20 kilometers away:

“Welcome to [a psychological clinic], how can I help you?”

(End of Volume 1)